Inside ESPN’s ‘Film Room’: What It’s Like To Watch The National Championship With College Head Coaches

BRISTOL, Conn. – The lasting image of Will Muschamp’s lone season as defensive coordinator at Auburn came during the Iron Bowl last month. The former Florida head coach snapped, swearing up a storm, with each curse causing his hair to tousle as even the CBS crew seemed unsure of how to accurately call the explosion. Just a few weeks later, Muschamp found himself in his third different quarter-zip jacket in just over a year, this time as the new coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks. Seated at a table in an ESPN studio with four other head coaches, he watched his former mentor Nick Saban earn his fifth national championship.

This Will Muschamp was pensive and relaxed, and he seemed to be having (gasp!) fun discussing the game with Pat Narduzzi of Pittsburgh, North Carolina’s Larry Fedora, South Florida head coach Willie Taggart, and another former Saban assistant and current coach of the Gators, Jim McElwain. The third ESPN Megacast Film Room was the biggest yet, and Narduzzi was the first coach to do it for the second time (after participating during last year’s title game between Ohio State and Oregon).

“Obviously I was nervous,” Narduzzi says of his first experience in the room. “Just like any other game, you don’t know what to expect and it’s a national broadcast, so you don’t know what you’re getting into. But once you get into it, it’s really just football and you call them like you see it.”